#AtHomeWith Session 07

 

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At Home With
Elaine Roberto Navas

Singapore
Posted on 06 June 2020

 

How different is your day now working at home now as an artist?
I have always worked from home, so the lockdown is a continuation of that. I have made a studio out of a spare bedroom. When my family was starting out, I used to paint at the space before the staircase outside our bedroom in a small 2 story apartment. I was able to make my college thesis there, with 4x6 ft dimensions. If I was working on a 6x8 ft diptych I would take over the living room downstairs.

 

What’s on your music playlist, movie or reading list?
For me, working and listening to something go hand in hand. When the music or audiobook stops, I tend to stop working! That’s why a playlist is so important to me. Luckily my son has just moved back in with us and he taught me how to make my own playlist. I usually pick songs that were played while my husband and I were with our children, like on a road trip. Good memories, good vibes! Listen here.

A playlist featuring Miley Cyrus, Dexys Midnight Runners, Nina Simone, and others

 
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Have you taken up any new projects, like a new hobby? Or picked up an old project. 
A new thing for me now is making small paintings. I’m used to making large scale ones, so it is a radical shift for me. I like what David Hockney said, “It takes a long time to make it simple!” Whenever I would see small landscapes in museums, I’d be so amazed at how powerful the image was in such small a space. I’d tell myself, one day I’ll try this. So many years passed but I never did try, until this year! My daughter and her best friend, who are both artists told me the other day, that it’s a good sign when you’re scared of putting your art out. That means you want to be brave with what you want to do.

 
 

I was hesitant to make small landscape paintings as I thought that they may be clichéd, a death sentence to a contemporary artist. When I showed my son the first one I made it was encouraging because he said that he liked them, that it was more intense than a bigger work because it’s concentrated in a small space. Another new thing for me is a return to drawing. I always wanted to know how to draw hands, so I spent almost a week copying the drawings of George Bridgman from ‘The Book of a Hundred Hands’. It was very difficult! I used to love to draw, there is a pulse that beats there, that is different from a painting. When Art Informal invited me to join their first online show, I forced myself to make drawings of trees. For so many years I always told myself, make tree drawings, every time I would take walks at the park in front of our place. I’m very happy that I was forced to do it!

 
 

What’s the first thing you’ll do the minute lockdown ends?
I am not sure that lifting of the lockdown will actually mean it’s safe, but the minute there is a cure and vaccine I’d love to visit my daughter, Ariel, in the US. Luckily our son, Bart is with us now. 

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